UW Moves Ahead with Current Administrative Team

November 18, 2013 — The University of Wyoming will move forward with key
initiatives under its current management team, led by Interim Vice President
for Academic Affairs Dick McGinity.

In accordance with university regulations, McGinity
is performing the duties of president while retaining his interim position as
UW’s chief academic officer. Other members of the university’s administrative
team are carrying on with their responsibilities as well.

In accepting the resignation of former president Bob
Sternberg last week, the UW Board of Trustees took no action regarding
presidential succession. Instead, the board noted the university regulation
that calls for the vice president of academic affairs to fulfill the duties of
president when the president has resigned and no acting president has been
appointed. The board also expressed confidence in the ability of McGinity and
other administrators to “move the institution forward” while trustees consider
how to proceed with UW’s presidential leadership and succession.

“The direction from the board was clear that I will
handle the items requiring decisions by the president, until the trustees take
further action regarding university leadership, and that the personnel changes
and changes in direction at the university in the past several months will stay
in place,” McGinity says. “We will continue to emphasize the university’s
land-grant mission of service to the people of Wyoming, state government and
the economy.”

McGinity and other UW administrators are continuing
to work with Gov. Matt Mead and lawmakers to prepare for the Legislature’s 2014
budget session. The university’s biennial budget request, approved by the Board
of Trustees earlier this year, reflects several key initiatives, including:

--A proposed 4 percent compensation increase for UW
employees, to be distributed based upon merit.

--Programmatic and capital facilities improvements
to lift UW’s College of Engineering and Applied Science to “Tier 1” status over
the next five years.

--Expanded partnerships with Wyoming community
colleges, including the creation of a bachelor’s degree program in clinical
laboratory sciences at the UW/Casper College Center, and planning for a
building to house Laramie County Community College’s Albany County campus at
UW.

--Technological improvements for students, including
upgrading of classrooms and improvement of the campus wireless system.

“These initiatives and others are crucial to the
continued progress of the university in fulfilling its important role in the
state,” McGinity says. “We will make sure they continue to move ahead.”